Mental Illness leads to Suicide, says WHO

A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that mental illness is a major risk factor for suicide. Suicide is the process of purposely ending one's own life.

The WHO report says that approximately one million people worldwide commit suicide each year and from 10 million to 20 million people attempt to suicide annually. The report further discloses that at an average one person dies in every 40 seconds globally.

WHO says that the mental disorder that arises out of depression and use of alcohol is mostly witnessed in Europe and North America. For Asian countries of course, mental disorder and provocation with impulsiveness leads to suicide.

In India, the prevalence of major mental and behavioral disorders is estimated to be 65 per 1000 persons. It has been observed that the social stigmas of Indian society contribute much in many cases of depression which eventually leads to suicide.

“The situation has not made much headway as problems are kept under the wraps because of the stigma attached to them”, said Dr Sudhir Joseph, director, St Stephen's Hospital.

It is a fact that majority of the people with mental illness do not die by suicide.  However, more than 90 percent of the people who die from suicide have a diagnosable mental disorder. People who die by suicide are frequently experiencing undiagnosed, undertreated, or untreated depression.

An estimated 2-15 % of persons who have been diagnosed with major depression die by suicide.

Mental illness in the form of substance abuse, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (mood issue) leads to depression which then results in suicide.